Japanese Medical School Accused of Rigging Admissions to Keep Women Out
Aug. 3, 2018 By Austin Ramzy and Hisako Ueno
A Japanese medical school has been accused of manipulating the test scores of female applicants for years to artificially depress the number of women in the student body, a scandal that has triggered sharp criticism.
The revelations have highlighted institutional barriers that women in Japan still face as they pursue work in fields that have long been dominated by men.
Tokyo Medical University reduced the test scores of women to keep their numbers at about 30 percent of entering classes, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday.
For the 2018 school year, 1,596 men and 1,018 women applied to the school, with 8.8 percent of men and 2.9 percent of women accepted, according to the newspaper.
“This medical school’s practice is very shocking and ridiculous,” said Dr. Takako Tsuda, an anesthesiologist who is chairwoman of the Japan Joint Association of Medical Professional Women. “This practice should be stopped now.”
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s education minister, ordered an investigation into the school’s admissions procedures over the last six years.
“Discriminating against female students in entrance exams is absolutely unacceptable,” Mr. Hayashi told reporters on Thursday.
The discrimination began after 2010, when the number of successful female applicants increased sharply, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying that school administrators justified the practice out of the belief that women were more likely to drop out of the profession after marriage or childbirth.
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